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Larry's Bridge Quiz Categories

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End All

Many bids are forcing or invitational. Many others are meant as "this is the end of the auction," but the partner bids again. This can happen on an auction such as:

WestNorthEastSouth
 1♠ Pass 1♠ Pass
 3NT Pass ?? 

The 3NT bidder is showing something like:

♠ Q  
♥ KQ  
♦ AKQ7654  
♣ K32.
 

He shows good long diamonds, stoppers, and a desire to play in 3NT. Must East Pass? No. What if East has a big hand himself? Maybe East has:

♠ AKJ7  
♥ A32  
♦ J105  
♣ A76.

Certainly, knowing what he knows about opener's hand he should bid again (probably 7NT).

In this quiz, you will see 4 auctions for each problem. Your job is to identify the one (there will be only one) which is 100% "end of auction." In other words, it is inconceivable that the partner of that "end of auction" bid can ever bid again.


 

Quiz Archives

5 Clubs and 4 Diamonds

With 5 ♠ and 4 ♠, you would never open 1♠. But, with 5 ♠ and 4 ♠, you will often open 1♠. Why? Suppose you open 1♠ with this hand: ♠♠ KJ2 ♠ AJ43 ♠ A7642. Your partner responds 1♠. Now what? You are stuck. You don't want to rebid 1NT with a singleton. You can't reverse into diamonds with a minimum hand. You don't want to rebid that ratty club suit. The solution is to open 1♠ and rebid 2♠. Partner won't know you have more clubs than diamonds, but at least you have found a way to show both minors. Will you always open 1♠ with 4♠ and 5♠? Not at all. In this quiz, we will reveal more within each question and answer.

Find the Error

Bridge is a game of errors. Avoiding obvious mistakes is much more important than learning fancy new conventions. In this quiz, each problem contains a major bidding error. Your job is to spot the error and vote for it.

Game Tries

After we open 1♠ or 1♠ and partner raises to 2, what should we do? We should add at least a point to our original evaluation, because our 5+ card suit is now worth more. For example, ♠K10765 might not be worth much opposite a singleton, but knowing partner has support (picture ♠QJx), means we have lots of tricks in our suit. With a re-evaluated strength of less than 16, game is unlikely (facing at most 9 or a so-so 10). With about 16-18 in strength, we want to invite game. This is done by bidding a new suit (typically something like Axxx or Q10x -- where you want partner to evaluate his cards in that suit to help with marginal decisions). A re-raise (1♠-2♠-3♠) should just be a blocking bid--based on the LAW of Total Tricks--not invitational. With more than 18, opener just bids game (no need to give away extraneous information). What if the opponents interfere after the raise? After 1♠ (Pass) 2♠ (3♠), opener can bid 3♠ just to compete (not invitational). To invite game, he has to bid a new suit (in this case, the only try is 3♠--and says nothing about hearts). What if the opponents overcall in the suit one below opener's? For example: 1♠ (2♠) 2♠ (3♠) ?  In this case, 3♠ is needed as just competing for the partscore (not inviting game). If opener wants to invite, the partnership has to use "Game-Try Doubles"(also called "Maximal Doubles") -- whereby double of the suit 1-under is not penalty, but invites game. In all cases above, responder would bid game with about 9-10 and reject with about 6-7. In between hands require judgment.

Opener's Rebid with a Strong Hand After a 1-Level Response

Opener opens in a suit and his partner responds on the 1-level. When Opener has a strong hand (16+), these are the choices: 1) Rebid 2NT = 18-19 balanced 2) Reverse (a 2-level bid in a suit higher than opener's first suit) = 17+ (Forcing 1 round but not to game) 3) Jump-Raise (Jump to 3=16-18 in support and jump to 4 = 19+ in support) 4) Jump Rebid = 16-18 counting shape and a 6+ card suit 5) Jump Shift = Natural and Forcing to Game 6) Jump to 3NT = Strong hand, typically a long running suit. If that's not enough to overwhelm you, note that occasionally opener won't do any of the above. 1♠-1♠-2♠, for example (opener's new suit) can occasionally be bid with quite a good hand, just short of a jump-shift. For example, opener would produce that auction with this 17-count: 

♠ 5  
♥ A8765  
♦ AKJ  
♣ AJ42.